A B&Q shop assistant has been given a suspended prison sentence after stealing nearly £4,500 from the Ipswich store where he worked.

Alexander Self, of Handford Road, Ipswich, had pleaded guilty to one charge of theft by employee when he appeared before the town’s magistrates last month.

At his sentencing which had been adjourned for a pre-sentence report the court jailed Self for 12 weeks, but suspended it for a period of 12 months.

Self was charged with stealing £4,429 from B&Q Ltd.

The company had found suspected discrepancies in the amount of money being banked at the Anglia Parkway store off Bury Road.

As a consequence investigators from B&Q fraud section were called in and found there was a shortage of cash from the tills.

Cameras were installed and showed Self taking money from pods which are put in chutes and sent elsewhere in the building for banking.

The offence was said to have taken ploace between March 3 and July 15 this year.

Self had begun working at the store in August 2013.

At the time of his arrest he was working as a customer service operator on the trade point counter.

Following his arrest Self indicated to police that he was in financial difficulties.

In addition to his suspended prison term Self must also pay court costs of £85.